The big Tottenham Hotspur accolade given to Portsmouth after FA Cup battle

Stellini admitted was impressed with the Blues’ resilience as it took a second-half goal from Harry Kane to separate the two sides at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Caretaker boss Simon Bassey saw his side stand toe to toe with the Londoners and Antonio Conte’s No2 was impressed with what he saw of the League One side.

He told the BBC: ‘They are a good team and we should give a big compliment to them because they played a good game and a tough game for us.

‘It was not easy to find a way to score.

‘They were so compact, but we played a good game, had more possession and had the game under control.

‘So we are happy. Maybe we could have scored before, but we couldn’t find the goal.

‘After we scored though, the game was different and much better for us.

‘We tried to score more but it was important to progress.

‘We had to stretch them to find a way to score.

‘We had to move many players to find a run and find a solution.

‘But we found a second ball with Harry and he scored.

‘The target was to stretch them, move the ball quickly and find a solution, because in the last 20m it was crowded.

‘But they played a good game and we progressed.’

Spurs created little in the first half with Reeco Hackett’s acrobatic effort the best chance of the opening 45 minutes.

Stellini felt Kane’s excellent finish five minutes after the restart saw the game open up, however.

He added via Spursplay: ‘They created a tough game for us because they were compact and they played a good game.

‘They were tough in the box and in the first half we didn’t find many chances to score.

‘We had some shots from outside the box, but they were good.

‘We know this because when you play this type of game we know very well we have to be good with the ball.

‘Most of the game was in our hands and when we found the goal the space was bigger.’